If you use natural or specialty oils as a bulk ingredient in your manufacturing, you already are well aware. You may even be feeling the market pressure. Perhaps, even, you've wondered what other non-gmo or organic bulk oils you could be using as an alternative.

Today we're going to focus on price-- always the giant elephant in the room. Here's how the pricing of some of the most common healthy, non-GMO or organic oils compares: Extra Virgin vs. Safflower & Sunflower Oil (see graph with actual prices below).

How you make the choice as to which bulk oil is right for your next food product isn't always just about flavor, color or health properties. There's a more functional, business aspect at play here-- that's right, money, money, money, money, mon-aay!

The price of ingredients is always a vital component in your final decision. For example, everyone has had that hesitation at the checkout of Coldstone-- do I really need this $7.00 ice cream? Perhaps I should have just opted for the carton at home... Price is, of course, just vital to your business decisions too.

In an effort to prevent any buyers remorse, we're giving you all information, upfront to do a real price comparison.

The Comparison of Industry Standard Non-GMO Oils

As the non-GMO movement picks up speed and many large manufacturers jump on the bandwagon, it's important to distinguish which oils are non-GMO as the most common industry standard. For example, the industry standard for Extra Virgin Olive Oil is that it is a non-GMO oil. Sunflower and Safflower Oil are the same.

This is in contrast to other oils like canola and soybean, that have an industry standard of a GMO oil.

Here's a chart to help you compare:

With that in mind, we're going to closely compare and contrast the pricing for Sunflower & Safflower Oil against Extra Virgin Olive Oil. These, as you can see, are two of the most common, naturally non-GMO high quality oils available. There also each very common in the specialty and natural foods industry right now.

We're also going to compare the organic varieties to the non-organic varieties. Then you can start to get a picture of the difference in price for each of these oils.

The Price Comparison of Extra Virgin Olive Oil to Safflower and Sunflower Oils

In the last few months, Safflower and Sunflower Oil prices have ranged from $1.40 to $1.60 /Lb.. Organic Safflower and Sunflower ranged from about $1.70 - $2.00 /Lb. When the market was not so tight, prices were about $0.10 - 0.20 /lb less than this estimate.

Of course, all of this information reflects the market over the last few months and doesn't reflect current pricing. It is, however, a good way to give you an accurate range to compare one to the other.

Look to the chart below for a visual comparison of this pricing.

As you can see, Sunflower and Safflower Oil, whether Organic or not are still cheaper than Extra Virgin or Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil. The different in price between the regular and organic varieties is a bit wider with Extra Virgin Olive Oil than with Sunflower or Safflower Oil.

Key Takeaways for Procurement Managers

The key pricing take aways for manufacturing purchasing managers are:

Sunflower and Safflower Oil has been cheaper than both Organic and regular Extra Virgin Olive Oil

The price differential between the organic and regular variety of Sunflower/Safflower Oil is a slightly smaller gap than the difference in price between Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

Next Steps

If you're considering switching to any of these Non-GMO oils as an alternative (or for a new product), here are the next steps you should take: